An Innocent Heart
by RedRoseAkabara
Summary: What would happen if one of the akuma made by the Millennium Earl before innocence had almost destroyed the world was still alive? What if that akuma also had the heart of innocence? And what if, just maybe, that akuma was on the exorcists' side?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ahhh! Thank you so much for deciding to read this! This is my first fanfic EVER so, i'm kinda excited (If you couldn't tell) ;D Please be kind, I'm new to the world of writing fanfiction so I'm not really sure how this will turn out. I really hope you like it and all reviews and constructive critisism are very greatly appreciated! Thank you again! *bows***

**Um, this story would take place right around the end of the second season of the anime. I've done my best to keep all of them in character as much as I can. It's rated T just to be safe, because of violence in future chapters, but there won't be any coarse language or sexual themes. **

**Disclaimer: Only one of these characters belong to me, the rest belong to their copyright holders. I'm just having fun with them ;)**

**Chapter 1**

The akuma were coming, and a lot of them too. I could sense it from where I was sitting on the roof of the house I was currently living in. They weren't coming here, but they were headed for the village just a few miles down the road.

I couldn't figure out exactly what they wanted there; there wasn't any innocence hidden there, nor any other reason I could think of for that many akuma to be converging there, but the Millennium Earl had seemed to find some sick pleasure in randomly wiping out whole villages recently. Maybe he was just desperate for more souls to make into akuma.

Regardless of the reason, the point right now was that they were in fact heading there. I thought back to the little old man who sold fruit and would always throw in a few extra raspberries (my personal favorite) for me whenever I went there. I thought of the children who were always playing and laughing in the streets, and the kind young seamstress that I had spent many afternoons chatting happily with.

There were many great people in that village, and none of them deserved to be slaughtered by the akuma.

I could sense 3 distinct pieces of innocence heading quickly towards the village, and knew that it must be the exorcists, but they were too far away. They would never make it to the village in time to save everyone.

I stood up and began to pace agitatedly back and forth on my rooftop. I knew I could save them, but to fight the akuma would be to potentially expose myself. If the Millennium Earl were to discover my existence, it could mean the end of the world itself.

I couldn't figure out why this situation should bother me so much; I had seen more deaths than I could possibly count in all the years that I'd been alive, but for some reason I couldn't bear to let all those kind villagers be murdered just a few miles away while I sat and did nothing.

I paced around a few more times, unable to decide what to do. Angrily, I decided I had no choice but to help the villagers, even if it meant risking the very world itself.

* * *

Komui sat at his desk at the Black Order, surrounded completely by his usual mess of papers. He sat with his elbows placed on the stack of papers in front of him that hid his desk from view, and had his fingers laced together in front of his mouth. His often spastic and overprotective demeanor was replaced with a very grave expression.

Seated on three chairs in front of him were Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee, and Lavi. They had been roused from their sleep in the middle of the night by an urgent message to go to Komui's office immediately. Any clinging sleepiness had left instantly when they saw the expression on Komui's face. They knew that something serious had to be going on.

"We have discovered a very large group of akuma converging on a small village about 36 miles northwest of here." Komui began, "All of the finders in that area were overwhelmed and wiped out before they were able to warn us of the akuma. Luckily one finder managed to escape and contact us just before they reached him too."

Lenalee and Allen both gasped in the background, while Lavi just hung his head sadly.

Komui continued, "We know the akuma are there, but they are already quite close to the village. The closest exorcists we have to that area are right here at the Black Order itself. We-"

"Then why are we sitting here talking about it?" Lavi interrupted suddenly, standing up. "We should already be on our way to the village to stop the akuma if they are that close!"

Komui gave him a very careful look before continuing. "Yes, you will be leaving very soon, but first I need to warn the three of you. There is an extremely large number of akuma there, and with the increasing number of reports lately, our exorcists have been kept plenty busy, as I'm sure you know well enough. We can't spare any more exorcists for this, so it will just be the three of you. This will be a very difficult mission. Please be careful and contact the Order again as soon as you have the chance."

With that the three exorcists agreed and stood up, hastily rushing out the door to be on their way. As soon as the door to the office closed, Komui immediately dropped his head face first onto his desk and began to wail in between his sobs, "Oh Lenalee! How could I send my precious little Lenalee on such a dangerous mission? What if she gets injured? NOOO! LENALEE!"

* * *

Allen, Lenalee, and Lavi were sitting on the handle of Lavi's hammer, having decided that it would probably be the quickest way to get to the village. All three worried that they would be too late, but none of them voiced their worries. Allen spoke up first. "I think we're getting close. That must be the village just ahead of us." He pointed to a black splotch against the dark grey around it.

"But if that's the village, then where are all the akuma?" Lenalee said hesitantly. "If there's really as many as he said, surely we should have seen at least some of them by now…?"

"You don't think… we're too late, do you…?" Lavi's voice wavered very slightly.

"Come on, quickly!" Allen nearly shouted.

Just outside of the village, Lavi lowered them to the ground, then returned his hammer to a smaller size. All three of them ran towards the village. A few more feet and they could hear explosions ahead.

Doubling their speed, they could soon make out the shapes of around two dozen akuma floating above the town. Before they could reach them however, four of them suddenly exploded, one after another.

"What was that?" Lenalee exclaimed, still running. "Why did they just suddenly explode like that?"

"I'm not sure. I couldn't see what caused it." Allen puffed, very slightly out of breath.

As they watched, more exploded in quick succession, right in front of them, but they still couldn't see anything besides the akuma themselves. All suddenly went quiet, and just a small handful of akuma remained. They didn't move for a few heartbeats, then they seemed to come back to their senses and began firing on the town, right as the exorcists reached them. They wiped out the level 1 akuma easily, then stood there looking around.

Lavi spoke first. "Komui said that it was supposed to be a really big group of akuma here, but we can't have seen more than 25. I don't see any more nearby though. You don't think the rest are hiding do you?"

"I don't see what the point would be for them to hide, especially if there were that many." Allen said as he looked around. "I'm more concerned with what was killing those akuma before we got here. You don't think it could have killed all those akuma in such a short amount of time, do you?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to be on guard in case whatever it was isn't too friendly with exorcists." Lavi said.

Lenalee had been looking around with a calculating expression, and she finally spoke up. "But if it was killing the akuma, wouldn't whatever it is be on our side? I can't see the Millennium Earl wasting that many akuma for no reason. Do you think it's possible that there is innocence somewhere in this town and it protected it from the akuma?"

They spoke for a while about some of the possibilities, and none of them could really make much sense of the strange situation.

"So, what do we do now?" Lavi asked.

"Well, I guess we should contact the Black Order and see what Komui thinks." Allen decided.

Using Timcanpy, Allen got a hold of Komui. Komui's frantic voice suddenly flowed out. "Allen? What's wrong? That was much too quick, you can't possibly have killed all those akuma already! Something's wrong, isn't it? Is it Lenalee? Is Lenalee okay? Please tell me that Lenalee is okay! Oh, I'm such an awful person to send my precious Lenalee there! I'm such an awful brother!"

Once the trio was finally able to convince Komui that Lenalee was just fine, they told him what had happened. Komui was absolutely sure that there had undeniably been a large group of level 1 akuma almost upon the village. He said he was curious if there was in fact innocence somewhere in the village, and ordered them to very carefully search the village to make sure no more akuma were hiding nearby, then if it was clear, to stay for a couple days and look into any strange happenings in the village.

After sweeping the entire village, and not finding even the tiniest hint of more akuma, the sun was just beginning to show on horizon. Finding a small motel, they checked in and collapsed exhaustedly onto their beds, and were asleep in no time at all.

* * *

I sat silently on the roof of a building, staring down at the three exorcists as they wondered what was going on. They were completely unaware that I was there. Those exorcists had certainly taken their time getting here. If I hadn't acted, the village would definitely have been completely destroyed before they could have done anything about it. I had taken out almost all of them before they arrived. It wasn't very challenging, even though it had been such a long time since I'd used my power. They were all level 1 akuma with no mind of their own. I wasn't even out of breath by the end of it.

I left the last few for the exorcists so that I could see just what kind of powers they had. If I was being completely honest with myself, I had to admit that I was kind of impressed with how quickly they had erased the akuma, as well as how well they all worked together.

They were definitely more skilled than the exorcists I had seen a few decades earlier. It seemed that the Black Order was getting stronger. That would explain why the Millennium Earl seemed to be getting so desperate. Perhaps now would be the best time to act.

As I continued to watch the exorcists, I decided that the time had come. I would make my move, and to do that I would need to meet these exorcists, without them discovering who, or more specifically what, I was. This would certainly be an interesting confrontation, but it could wait until daylight. I needed to plan it out, and decide what would be the easiest way to use them to my advantage.

I watched them until they turned to leave, then I went my own way back towards my village, knowing I would see them again very soon.

* * *

It was the second day that Allen, Lenalee, and Lavi had been in the village. After they had rested up a bit, they had spent what was left of the first day speaking with the villagers. No one seemed to have noticed the disturbance in the night, and the village itself seemed to be an everyday, normal village. The people were very friendly and welcoming to them, and they couldn't find any information on any strange or abnormal event.

The next day they hadn't seen any sign of more akuma either, so they decided that it should be safe enough to split up for a bit before lunch so they could cover more ground. Lenalee went with Allen while Lavi went on his own.

Lavi had just finished speaking with a very kind old man at a fruit stand, and decided to try some of the back streets. He turned a corner and saw a young lady in the middle of an otherwise deserted street.

She looked to be around 16 or 17 years old, and had long, dark blonde hair that fell in waves around her face. She was wearing a plain, long silky black dress and no shoes. Her eyes were a startling dark green.

However, the thing that really caught Lavi's attention was that she was on her knees, hands on the ground on either side of her as if to support herself. Her eyes were wide open and staring blankly at the ground in front of her, and she was very slightly shaking. She looked terrified.

Lavi ran forward. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly. She didn't respond, just continued staring at the ground as if she didn't even know he was there. Lavi tried again. "Miss, are you alright? Can you hear me? What's wrong?" Still she gave no response, not even a blink of and eye.

Lavi placed a hand on her shoulder and instantly she jerked violently backwards and into the dust with a gasp. She stared up at Lavi fearfully, and started shaking even worse than before, breathing heavily and unevenly.

Lavi very carefully extended his hand towards her, careful not to touch her, and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I promise I'm not going to hurt you. Please tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help."

She stared for a couple more seconds, then slowly the shaking slowed and stopped. The fear faded from her eyes and reason seemed to return to her. She flushed bright red and reached an unsteady hand out to Lavi's steady one. He helped her up and smiled warmly. "There, that's better."

She blushed even more, then stuttered, "I-I'm so s-sorry. Th-thank you for helping me up." She began dusting herself off, and turned her head purposely away from Lavi, but not before he saw the tears that were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Are you alright Miss?" He spoke softly, as though he were trying to calm a frightened horse. "Do you mind if I ask what's wrong?"

She sniffed, and replied, "Don't worry about it. You wouldn't believe me anyways, it's such an outrageous story. I'm not sure I myself entirely believe it, even though I think I saw it with my own eyes." She sniffed again and said, "You'd just think me crazy."

Lavi was very curious at these words. It sounded like just the kind of thing they were looking for. With the same tone to his voice, he replied, "No, I've seen plenty of weird things myself. I promise I won't think that you're crazy. Maybe I can help. Please tell me…"

As he finished, she suddenly started crying freely and threw her arms around him as though he were her only anchor to sanity. Her whole story suddenly came spilling out amidst her tears. Lavi looked startled at her actions and awkwardly patted her on the back as she spoke.

"It was two nights ago. It was really late at night and I heard something strange outside. I went out to look and I was in the street when a… some kind of… monsters appeared. They were just floating in the sky, and they had guns and they started shooting at me. I ran and ran but two of them were chasing me. I ran into a dead end and they had me cornered, and they were closing in on me and I just knew I was going to die. But then they just suddenly exploded. I ran back to my house. There were so many of them, but they kept randomly exploding in the air. I was so scared, but I knew no one would ever believe me, so I didn't tell anyone. I thought I could just forget about it and it would all go away, but today I was walking to the store and this was one of the roads that they chased me down, and as soon as I came here it all came back to me…"

She seemed to be unable to keep talking. Lavi had been listening patiently this whole time. He said, "It's okay, I believe you. You're not crazy." She looked up hopefully at him and said, "Really? You believe me?"

"Yes, I've seen these monsters before. It's alright though, they aren't coming back, and they won't try to hurt you again." Lavi said with a smile.

Her look turned confused. "Do you know what those monsters were?" Lavi just sighed heavily and said, "Yes, they are called akum-"

Suddenly Allen turned the corner into the alley and started running desperately towards them. Lenalee wasn't far behind him. Allen suddenly shouted, "Lavi! Get away from her! She's an akuma!"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry to leave off on a cliff hanger, but it helps keep people interested :) Thank you for reading the first chapter! What did you think? Good, bad, just okay? Please please tell me what ****you thought about it! All reviews and constructive critisism is helpful. I basically have an outline of the entire story written down on paper, but I'm still very open to suggestions. Also, feel free to point out any mistakes to me if you see them. I was actually surprised how long it took me to type this up, but I'll work on keeping the story moving and not having big gaps between chapters. Reviews are always great motivation to type faster (hint hint, wink wink) ;) And again, I'm so very greatful to all of my lovely readers!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well, here's chapter 2. Much sooner than I originally planned, but I was feeling really ambitious today :) To everyone who reviewed, or added this story to favorites or alerts, all I can say is: OMG THANK YOU SOOO... MUCH! Lol, you have no idea how happy they made me! :D I really really appreciate it! It's true that it makes a writer feel like typing faster ;) Again, this is my first fanfiction ever, so please go a bit easy on me ^_^ All reviews and constructive critism is welcome. Also, if you see any mistakes, please let me know so I can fix it. I'm open to suggestions, and if you have something that you think would improve my writing or story, I would love to hear it! **

**Disclaimer: I only own one of these characters, the rest all belong to their copyright holders. Please don't feel the need to sue me over them, i own nothing! Lol**

**Chapter 2**

"Lavi! Get away from her! She's an akuma!" Allen shouted, running down the alley.

Lavi instantly scrambled backwards a few paces from the girl and drew out his hammer. He looked startled and angry, if not a little nervous that he had been so close to an akuma without knowing it.

Allen and Lenalee stopped next to Lavi, and the three of them stared at the girl in the road.

The girl's face immediately changed to a rueful smirk. "Ah, so that eye of yours can tell akuma from humans, can it? Well, that's quite inconvenient for me. And after I had just put on such a wonderful performance too." she said to Allen. "I spent such a long time on planning all of this out, and you just ruin everything. Well, this might prove to be a little more difficult now."

The three exorcists were tense and carefully watched the akuma's every subtle move, ready to jump into action at the tiniest hint of attack. Lavi asked with an undercurrent of venom in his tone, "But why bother with this charade? What's the point of it all? What were you planning to do?"

"Well, I don't suppose the three of you would be willing to sit and hear me out, would you?" She answered back sarcastically.

Lenalee piped in, "Why would we want to sit and listen to the lies of an akuma? The Millennium Earl probably sent you to trick us. Why should we believe anything you have to say?"

"Sigh, I was afraid of that. I had hoped to avoid a confrontation, but it seems that I'll have to _make_ you listen to me." With that she lunged forward, still in the form of a girl.

The exorcists activated their innocence and Lenalee was the fastest to attack. Flipping up into the air, she swung her feet down and straight at the girl's face. The girl moved slightly to the side at the last second and wrapped her hand firmly around Lenalee's ankle. With a twist, she sent Lenalee through the air about 10 feet down the alley. She landed roughly, but otherwise seemed fine.

The girl turned around just in time to see Allen's massive left arm swinging towards her. He swept right past where she had been, and when his arm had moved, she had vanished.

Lenalee has stood up by then, and shouted that she couldn't get her innocence to activate.

Allen, hearing a small chuckle, turned his head just in time to see the girl jump from the roof of the building to his right. She landed directly behind him before he could act, and she merely placed her hand on Allen's left shoulder. Allen felt a sharp pain in his anti-akuma weapon that burned away quickly. When he looked down again, his arm had returned to its normal size and color. "Innocence, activate." he called, but his arm did nothing. He kept trying, but nothing he did would make it respond.

Meanwhile, Lavi had made his hammer grow to many times its normal size. Seeing what she had done to Lenalee and Allen, he decided that he would just have to take her out before she had the chance to attack him. His hammer could move much quicker than Allen's arm, or Lenalee's boots. Raising it above his head, he swung it down fast and hard towards the girl. He felt it connect with something and felt the satisfying vibrations move up his arm from the impact, however, when he looked closer, he could see the girl crouched low to the ground. One hand was braced flat against the ground, the other was raised above her head, right in the middle of the hammer's flat surface. She had stopped it with nothing more than a single hand. A split second later, he felt the handle ripped from his grasp and watched as it shrunk to normal size it the Akuma's hand.

She stood up and tossed it back to Lavi who caught it instinctively. Same as with Lenalee and then Allen, it wouldn't activate again.

He quickly turned his attention to the akuma, sure that it would finish them off now that they were all powerless, but she just walked over to a crate by the wall and sat down, watching the three exorcists with a guarded expression. She still appeared to be nothing more than an innocent girl.

"There, now you have no choice but to hear me out. I'm not your enemy." she said calmly.

Allen stared at her, then asked through gritted teeth, "Not our enemy? Then why did you attack us? And what did you do to our innocence?"

"You wouldn't have heard me out otherwise, and you need to hear what I have to say. Oh and don't worry about your innocence, it will be as good as new before long."

Lenalee, Allen, and Lavi looked at each other disbelievingly, then moved to stand closer together. Lavi asked, "And why should we listen to the words of a mindless servant of the Millennium Earl?"

"The Millennium Earl believes that I died a very, very long time ago. If you will hear me out, I will explain everything to you. What harm will it do to listen? Words will not hurt you, and it's not as if you have any other choice. Besides," she said with a slight edge, "if I wanted the three of you dead, you would be have been dead a while ago."

Allen looked meaningfully at the other two, who just nodded slightly. "Very well," Allen began in a guarded tone, "we will hear you out, but this better be good."

"Perhaps you should sit down." the girl gestured towards a few more crates about 5 feet away. "Might as well make yourselves comfortable, it's a very long story."

They pointedly ignored her and remained standing.

"If that's what you want." she hissed quietly. "Very well. Perhaps I had better start with my name. The name I was given when I was born, not as an akuma of course, but my natural life, was Sayuri Mochizuki. I've gone by many other names over the years, but Sayuri is still the name that I feel describes who I really am."

Lenalee gave a skeptical snort, but Sayuri chose to ignore it and continue anyways.

"I was born…"

Lavi interrupted suddenly. "I don't particularly care to hear your life story. Maybe you'd like to start with what you did to our innocence and how you did whatever you did. That sounds like as good a place as any to start in my opinion." He glared boldly at Sayuri.

Sayuri sighed and looked a little annoyed. "I was getting to that, but if that's how you're going to be, very well, I'll tell you. Well, it might actually be easier to show you. Then maybe you'll understand the significance of the other details." Raising from her position on the crate, she took her right hand and placed it over her heart. With a barely noticeable grimace, she began to pull her hand slowly away from her torso. She then turned her hand palm up and showed the exorcists what was in it.

"You have innocence?" Lavi exclaimed, looking at the glowing phenomenon resting comfortably in Sayuri's hand.

"Yes, but it's even more than that. Look closer." Sayuri said impatiently.

Lavi leaned in, and upon closer inspection noticed that the glow emanating from it was slightly brighter than the other pieces he had seen before, and the light also pulsed slightly, in a steady rhythm. "Okay, so it's slightly different from the rest. Maybe it just doesn't like being kept by an akuma."

Sayuri sighed again, and said, "No, it's the Heart of Innocence. The very core piece of all the innocence in the world."

The exorcists gasped as one, staring wide-eyed. Then Allen asked carefully, "Why should we believe you? How do we know that this really is the Heart of Innocence? Just because it has a few miniscule differences doesn't necessarily mean it is what you say it is."

Sayuri smiled and said, "How do you think I was able to make it so you couldn't activate your innocence? I used the Heart of Innocence to temporarily deactivate your own innocence. Don't worry, it's merely in a state of hibernation you could say. It will be working normally again within the hour."

They still looked a bit skeptical, and she just replied, "I can't help it if you choose not to believe me. The truth is the truth." She shrugged. "But have you ever known any piece of innocence to be able to interfere with other innocence before? Just something to think about." With that she pressed the Heart of Innocence back to her chest, directly above her heart, and it slowly melted back into the flesh. She grimaced and moved her hand away, then exhaled quickly. "Sorry, but that's actually quite uncomfortable." She resumed her seat on the crate.

Lavi had been watching carefully the whole time and now said to her, "Okay, let's say we decide to believe you. How on earth did an akuma get its hands on the Heart of Innocence?"

"I was getting to that when you rudely interrupted me." Sayuri said, sounding amused. "Now, if you're willing to listen to the rest of the story, I'll explain everything in detail. But before I start-" She looked pointedly at the other crates again and raised an eyebrow.

Lenalee huffed and muttered, "Whatever. I suppose it really doesn't make a difference whether we're sitting or standing." She turned on her heel and stalked over to the crates, perching herself on the edge of one. She didn't seem happy at all with the current situation.

Lavi followed her example and also seated himself on one of the crates, right next to her. Allen walked over to them, but remained standing. He folded his arms across his chest and said, "Alright then, let's hear this story of yours."

"I was born-" She paused and looked at Lavi. This was where he had interrupted before. He just rolled his eye, and Sayuri laughed lightly. "I was born a very, very, _very_ long time ago. I'm sure you've all heard the story of how the Millennium Earl attacked the earth thousands of years ago, and the inhabitants of the earth in that time used innocence to stop him, nearly destroying the earth at the same time?"

They nodded, not really sure where she was going with this.

"Well, when the Millennium Earl attacked the earth the first time, there wasn't anything at all like the complex machines and guns that you have in this day. Nothing at all like that existed, so the "akuma" he used then relied on a physical body, with heightened abilities, instead of a gun or other mechanical weapon. They could in theory be injured with a sword or spear or club, but very few people were skilled enough and fast enough to manage it.

"The Earl was still experimenting with his new creations, and at first he started by using the souls of the deceased themselves. He would show them their grieving loved ones, and ask them if they wished to be brought back to life. Any unfortunate enough to agree would be turned into an akuma. They would be returned to their original body, but he would do something to it to take away any choice they had, as well as turn it super-human, but the souls weren't technically bound to anything on earth. Their soul had already given up their body, so some who had a really strong will could fight it, and disobey the Earl's orders. This became a real problem for him, so he tried a different tactic.

"He decided that maybe the souls of animals would be easier to control, so he would take the soul of an animal and bind them to the body of a recently deceased human. Then he could also bring out the natural skills and fighting instinct of the animal as well.

"He tried with many different animals, and found that dogs were usually the most willing to please. Cats were hit-and-miss. They had a natural dislike of being told what to do, but when one was willing to obey, they could be some of the most effective akuma yet. His problem was that about 2 out of every 3 akuma he made with an animal's soul was difficult to control, even the dogs, so he went back to experimenting with the human's souls.

"He discovered that if the soul was bound tightly to something on earth, such as a loved one who desperately called for them to return, all free will and desire to fight was washed away in despair as soon as they realized what they'd done, and what they had become."

Lavi interrupted at this point. "Wait a minute, how do you know all of this? None of the records from that time survived. The only clue we have to anything that happened before that time was the writing on the innocence, and it didn't mention anything at all of this." He sounded very skeptical.

Sayuri hung her head and with a very deep sigh, explained, "I know of this because I was one of the akuma that he created during that time."

All three exorcists looked extremely shocked. "H-how is that possible?" Lenalee asked, wide-eyed. "Nothing could have survived that!"

Sayuri pointed out, "The innocence survived the destruction. I was saved by the Heart of Innocence itself."

Allen still looked skeptical, and opened his mouth when Lavi interrupted, looking at him. "Maybe we should let her finish her story. It might make more sense after that." Lavi still sounded a bit unsure. Allen closed his mouth, stood for a moment more, then nodded. He finally decided to sit down, on the opposite side of Lenalee from Lavi.

Sayuri watched with a sad smile. She nodded towards Lavi, saying, "Thank you."

"Don't think this means I believe you yet, I'm just curious to see what else you have to

say." He said quickly.

Sayuri's smile widened and she said brightly, "Of course." but her mood seemed to

dampen again as she continued. "Anyways, I was one of the akuma he created during this time. I was, actually I…" she seemed to be a bit embarrassed to continue. She looked at the ground and finally spat out, "I was created with the soul of a cat, put into a dead human's body."

Allen narrowed his eyes and said, "No, that's not possible. The soul I can see is definitely a human one." He activated his cursed eye again just to double check.

"Oh, so that eye of yours can see the actual souls of the akuma. That's very interesting." Sayuri leaned forward curiously. "You said that my soul looks like that of a human's? That must be because I've been stuck in this body for such a long time."

Allen was still studying her curiously with his cursed eye. "Yes, it's definitely the soul of a human, but it isn't weeping like all of the others I've seen. It merely looks sad. It's still chained, but it still seems different from all the others I've seen before."

"That's because it _is _different from all the others you've seen before." Sayuri cut in. "Something must have gone wrong when the Millennium Earl pulled my soul back and tied it to this body, because I still had my free will. Nothing at all clouded my thoughts, but he claimed it wasn't unusual for the akuma to be slightly rebellious for the first few days, especially those made with the soul of an animal that was suddenly trying to adjust to the body and thoughts of a human.

"During my first day, I saw very clearly what happened to akuma that decided to disobey the Millennium Earl. I had already died once, and it hadn't been a pleasant death; I had been slowly ripped apart by coyotes after making a foolish and careless mistake. It had been a very slow, agonizing death. You can't even begin to comprehend how painful it was until you've experienced it yourself, and I wasn't in any hurry to experience death a second time.

"So, I decided that I would obey the Earl, whatever he told me to do, and I quickly became a kind of favorite of his. I was one of the faster, more stealthy and self-controlled of his akuma, and I had never after that first day gave any hint of disobeying an order, so he used me as a kind of assassin. Anyone who opposed him or got in his way, he would sent me after them to kill them. I tried to make the deaths as quick and painless as possible, reminded every time, of course, of my own horrible death.

"Pretty soon the Millennium Earl learned of an organization that was trying to put a stop to him; the very same organization that nearly destroyed the world in an attempt to stop him. He discovered the name and location of one of the leaders and I was sent out to kill him. As fate would have it, when I reached him, he happened to be carrying the Heart of Innocence with him. He was in the process of moving it to a safer location. As I moved in to attack him, the innocence reacted with me. I was confused and scared, I didn't know what innocence was at that time.

"He was just as confused as I was. Why would the Heart of Innocence react with an akuma? And the fact that I was there meant that the Millennium Earl had discovered their existence.

"Soon he realized that I was no ordinary akuma. Out of fear I explained to him that I had never truly lost my mind, and that I still had complete control. He insisted that I come with him back to the organization, and they helped me come up with a plan to convince the Earl that I had died so he wouldn't become suspicious, and then they hid me at their headquarters.

"They explained the innocence to me, as well as their plan to destroy the Earl. I was asked to guard the Heart of Innocence and keep it safe. All I remember from the night they tried to destroy the Millennium Earl was a blinding flash of light. I clung to the Heart of Innocence as tightly as I could and must have blacked out at some point. When I woke up I was still holding the Heart of Innocence, which had formed a barrier around me. Everything was over by then.

"I've been disguising myself as a human and guarding the Heart of Innocence every since, knowing that if the Millennium Earl were to get his hands on it, it could mean the end of all hope. I've also been watching the Black Order carefully for some time now. They've certainly grown much stronger in the last little while. Quite impressive, actually."

Sayuri concluded her story and sat back, looking sadly and mildly expectantly at the three exorcists.

They had been sitting fairly quietly through the last half of her story, and their expressions didn't give very much away. They remained silent for a bit longer, then Lenalee broke the silence. "It's a very well thought-out story, and I suppose it makes sense, but I'm still not sure. Somehow I'm still having some trouble believing it. We don't really have any solid proof that supports it yet."

Sayuri nodded, looking like she was thinking really hard about something. "True enough, I can't argue with that." She slowly stood up and stretched, letting out a big yawn.

As soon as she moved, Lenalee, Allen, and Lavi all tensed up nervously. Sayuri of course saw this and chuckled for a minute. "I suppose I can't blame exorcists for not being very comfortable in the presence of an akuma. Well if you'll follow me, I want to show you something that might help you believe me, but not in the middle of town. It wouldn't be good if someone happened to turn down this road in the middle of it." She started down the northern end of the alley, then looked back to see that none of them had moved. "Oh, and if it helps at all, your innocence should be back to normal by now." she called over her shoulder, then continued walking slowly on her way.

The exorcists jumped up and they called to their innocence to activate. All three weapons did so immediately, and they grinned at each other, looking very relieved. They looked at Sayuri's retreating form and quickly decided that it couldn't hurt to just go and see. If she was telling the truth, it would be a very good thing for the Order. Besides, she had already held had them at her mercy and easily could have finished them off by now, but didn't. The took off at a jog to catch up to her.

The moment they drew level with Sayuri, she quickened her pace to a brisk walk. "Oh good, I'm glad you decided to give me a chance." She smiled at them, and they just stared blankly back.

She walked out of the village and into the thick trees that grew around it. She walked deeper into the forest, the suddenly stopped. "This should be far enough." She stepped a few paces back from the exorcists and turned to face them. "You remember what I told you about the akuma from long ago having extraordinary physical abilities, rather than mechanical weapons?"

They all nodded warily. "Well, as you've probably guessed by now, this isn't my true form."

Again they nodded looking even more nervous. "Well, I'd like to show you my true form. Please don't attack me again." she said exasperatedly.

None of them said anything nor moved, so she took that as a yes. Suddenly she fell forward onto her hands and knees. Her body was shaking violently in what looked like convulsions. One by one, two gigantic wings sprouted up from her back. This seemed to draw most of the exorcists' attention, so that when the shaking stopped and they looked closer they saw that she also had two large cat ears perched atop her head, and a tail with a very wicked looking claw-like hook on the end. It had to be at least 9 inches long, and came to a very sharp-looking point. On the ends of each of her fingers were thick, sharp claws as well.

As she straightened her posture and looked towards the exorcists, her eyes were still the same piercing green, but they now looked distinctly feline, with an obvious predatory gaze to them. They couldn't help but shudder as she caught their gaze. Sayuri grinned again, which drew back her lips and exposed her teeth, or now fangs, to be more accurate.

She moved with an unnerving grace that seemed effortless on her part. She slowly extended her wings fully and stretched them, seeming to fully enjoy the feel of it.

The wings at first look appeared to be a silvery-grey color, but if you looked closer you could see that it was actually a mix of blacks, whites, and every shade of grey imaginable. Each strand on every feather was a different color. The same thing occurred with the fur on the ears and tail. She had a deadly kind of beauty.

She finished stretching her wings and folded them back against her body. "You have no idea how good that feels." She said, still with the same voice as before. "It's been so long since I've been able to stretch my wings out, all the muscles are stiff." She glanced at the exorcists who still said nothing, so with another of those eerie grins, she stretched out her wings again, and with a massive _whoosh_ took to the air.

She flew high up into the sky, enjoying the feel of the wind through her feathers. She suddenly dropped into a dive, tucking her wings in close. Just before she hurtled headlong into the tree tops, she pulled up. She spun in circles and loops, climbed straight up into the air and dived, laughing the whole time. After a few minutes of this she flew a bit slower over towards the exorcists. She landed 5 feet in front of them and was back in her human form as her feet hit the ground. "Oh, I've definitely missed that." She said with a wide smile. "So, now what do you think?"

The trio looked at each other for a minute before Lavi turned to face Sayuri and said solemnly, "Well, I think I might be crazy, but, *sigh* I believe you." He smiled weakly back at her, and Lenalee and Allen nodded in agreement in the background.

**A/N: I originally planned to go on a bit longer before ending this chapter, but it was already turning out to be quite long, and I decided that this would be as good a place as any to end it. I really hope it isn't turning out to be too weird, and that it is actually making a bit of sense. It's always harder to tell how others will see it, but I'm doing my best. I'll work on getting chapter 3 up as soon as I can. Again, to all of my readers, a great big thank you! :) Please review and tell me what you thought ^_^ Well, till next time i guess...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you everyone for all of the reviews, favorites, and alerts. They really mean a lot to me! I actually kind of enjoyed writing this chapter. You get to see a few new sides to Sayuri that you haven't seen before. I hope it turned out ok. I always worry that the story is going to be too boring -_- But, I'll do my best to keep the story moving and interesting. I'm open to suggestions, and I really appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. Please tell me what you think I can do better, so I can become a better writer! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: Sayuri is the only character that belongs to me. The rest belong to their copyright owners. I'm not making a profit off of this.**

**Chapter 3**

The trio looked at each other for a minute before Lavi turned to face Sayuri and said solemnly, "Well, I think I might be crazy, but, *sigh* I believe you." He smiled weakly back at her, and Lenalee and Allen nodded in agreement in the background.

Sayuri heaved a huge sigh of relief and beamed back at Lavi. "Oh good, I'm so glad. I was worried I wouldn't be able to convince you guys."

Lenalee looked at Sayuri and asked, "So were you that one that killed the rest of the akuma on the night we got here?"

Sayuri just nodded, not saying anything.

"Well, I guess we should thank you then. I think a lot of people probably would have died if you hadn't stopped them."

Allen voiced the obvious question. "So, now what do we do?"

"Well, we should probably tell Komui what happened. Let him decide what to do." Lavi answered.

"Yeah." Allen looked around, then asked, "Wait, where's Timcanpy?"

They all looked around anxiously, with the exception of Sayuri. Now that they thought about it, none of them could remember seeing him since they left the village.

"Oh, not again! Master is going to kill me if he finds out I lost Tim!" Allen wailed, holding his head.

Lenalee put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly and said, "I'm sure he's fine. He'll show up soon."

Allen continued holding his head, eyes closed, and shaking slightly; no doubt thinking of all the things his master would do to him if he ever found out that he had lost the little golem.

Lavi grabbed onto the handle of his hammer and used it to raise himself above the tree-line, to get a better look around. He scanned as far as he could see, looking for the tiniest flash of gold, but saw nothing. He came back down and just shook his head at Allen and Lenalee.

Sayuri just watched, her face showing no emotion, though she was starting to look extremely tired.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go back to town and look for him. I'm sure he can't have gone far." Lavi said cheerfully, trying to be optimistic.

"Yeah, let's go look there for him. Come on Allen." Lenalee said.

As Lenalee walked with Allen back through the trees, Lavi looked over at Sayuri, and indicated that she should go ahead of him.

_They still don't completely trust me, _Sayuri thought to herself. _Though it is smart of them not to leave their backs completely unguarded against an akuma, I guess._

Lavi noticed that as she walked, she shuffled her feet a little, and she was noticeably slouched forward. It was very different from the unconscious grace she seemed to possess before.

Taking a few longer strides, he drew level with her. As he looked down at her face, she seemed to be completely exhausted.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" he asked slowly. Did akuma even get tired or sick?

She didn't look up at him, but just continued her slow pace. "I'm… fine…" She quietly wheezed, sounding really out of breath.

Lavi put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "If you're tired, we can take a short break. It's not very much farther to the village."

"No, don't worry… about me. I'm… fine." She muttered again between labored breaths. She still didn't look up at Lavi. Instead she looked down at the ground in front of her.

_Dang. _She thought. _It really has been a long time since I've used this much of my power._

She moved forward again, towards Allen and Lenalee who were now some distance ahead.

"Hey!" Lavi made to stop her again, but she suddenly stopped of her own accord. She swayed a bit where she stood, and as she fell forward, Lavi caught a glimpse of completely unfocused eyes.

She fell sprawled out on her side with her eyes closed. She wasn't moving other than the faint rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

Lavi rushed forward and shook her. She groaned for a second, but otherwise didn't respond.

He called Allen and Lenalee back over.

"Jeez Lavi, what did you do to her?" Lenalee gave a rough attempt at humor, despite the situation.

"I didn't do anything! She was starting to look really tired, then she just suddenly collapsed." Lavi sounded worried.

Allen sighed. "Just what we need right now. Well, I guess we can't just leave her out here. Come on, get her and let's go already." His worry about Timcanpy made him more touchy than usual.

Lavi bent down and gathered Sayuri up in his arms. She was surprising light for her size. She wasn't necessarily fat or overweight, but she definitely had a more sturdy build. Despite that, she seemed to weigh almost nothing at all.

He began carrying her in the direction of the little village.

* * *

Sayuri groaned as she opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the unfamiliar surroundings. If she hadn't felt so completely drained of energy, she probably would have jolted upright. She felt her pulse race, and it just seemed to drain her even further.

She felt something soft, and noticed that she was warm. Looking down, she realized that she was lying in a small twin-sized bed, with a thick comforter draped over her.

Calming down a bit, she looked around. She was in a small room that didn't have much in it. Over on her left was a small wooden dresser. Next to that was a small window. Sitting up slowly, she realized that it was dark outside.

Right in front of her was a small couch with a side table next to it. On the side table was a-

"So, you finally awake?" An amused voice cut into her wandering thoughts.

Sayuri jumped and whipped her head to her right, heart pounding. Lounging in a chair next to her bed, looking the very picture of ease, was Lavi. He had a wide grin on his face.

"Hmm, I didn't think it was possible to scare an akuma. I might have to keep that in mind." He still looked very amused.

Sayuri's breathing returned to normal as she shook her head slightly, but Lavi noticed that the very corners of her mouth were upturned slightly. Sayuri found it hard to be annoyed with Lavi around.

She came back to her senses enough to ask, "Where am I anyways?"

"We're at the motel Allen, Lenalee, and I've been staying at. You passed out on our way back from the woods and I carried you back here so you could rest up." Lavi explained simply.

"Oh. Thanks." Sayuri said. Lavi could have sworn he'd seen a light blush spread across her cheeks before she turned her head away, but that couldn't be possible. He refused to believe an akuma, any akuma, capable of something like blushing.

They sat there quietly for a minute before Sayuri looked up at him and asked, "Wait, where are Allen and Lenalee anyways?"

"Oh, they went out to look for Timcanpy. They've been gone for quite a while now though. I wonder where that little golem got off to."

Sayuri turned her head away again. A couple more seconds of silence and then she asked, "And they just trusted me enough to leave you here alone with an akuma?" There was a very slight edge to her tone.

Lavi gave a quiet chuckle. "Well, about that. At first Lenalee insisted that she stay behind with me, while Allen insisted that I come with both of them to help look, but I managed to convince them that I'd be fine here by myself while they looked." He looked up and his one green eye met her two. "I trust you Sayuri." He said seriously.

Sayuri felt her heart give a strange twinge, but she dismissed it. She held his gaze for a few more seconds, then looked down yet again. "Thank you Lavi. That really means a lot to me."

"Anytime." He answered. His warm smile had returned to his face, and Sayuri couldn't help but smile back up at him. His smiles were oddly contagious.

Just then, Sayuri leaned forward, staring intently in the direction of the door. "Allen and Lenalee are back." She finally said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?" Lavi asked, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"I can hear them." Sayuri answered as thought it were obvious.

Lavi strained his ears, but he still couldn't hear even the smallest noise that might indicate his comrades return. It was a good 45 seconds before he heard hushed voices and footsteps outside the door.

The handle turned and sure enough, Allen and Lenalee walked into the room. Allen looked extremely harassed and Lenalee was trying her best to cheer him up. Lavi didn't miss the very conspicuous absence of a certain flying golden ball either.

Allen said quietly, "We searched every last corner of this town 3 times, but we still couldn't find him."

"Ah, don't worry man, he'll show up soon. I'm sure of it." Lavi said in his most cheery voice.

"Let's hope so." Allen sounded completely defeated, and Lavi felt really bad for his friend.

Allen walked slowly over to the couch and slouched down on one side.

Lenalee looked over at Sayuri suddenly as if she had just remembered that she was there. "Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling?" She shot her a small, somewhat forced smile.

Sayuri returned her weak grin and replied, "Quite a bit better now, thanks. That rest really helped."

"Oh yeah! What exactly happened back there anyways?" Lavi asked curiously.

Sayuri took a minute or two staring at the ceiling before answering.

"Well, the Heart of Innocence does give me a lot of extra power and strengthens the abilities I already had, besides keeping me alive for this long obviously, but it must use my own energy to fuel it. I have a huge amount of power, but it drains me really quickly if I use too much of it. If I push myself too far, I pass out until I recover some of my strength. That's why I've never actually gone after the Millennium Earl myself.

"I have enough raw power that I could probably easily overtake him if I didn't have a limit on it. However, I can't sustain it long enough to actually take him down. If I had tried and failed to do it quick enough, then he would have the Heart of Innocence and everything would have been meaningless.

"Instead I decided that it would be best to just keep it hidden from him so he would be unable to find it, and wait for the Black Order to become powerful enough to do it instead."

Lavi and Lenalee nodded, and even Allen managed to bob his head up and down once while sitting staring blankly at the ground.

"That makes sense, I guess." Lenalee murmured thoughtfully. "So you just used up too much of your energy today, and that's why you collapsed?"

"Yeah. It's been a long time since I've really used any of my powers. I think I must just be really out of shape. Before, I could have gone for about twice as long without collapsing. I'll just have to work back up to it I guess."

Sayuri had some of her energy back, however she was still really tired. Lavi could see that in her face, as well as in Lenalee and Allen's faces as they struggled to keep their eyes open.

"Well, we're all really tired and it's been one heck of an eventful day." Lavi said to the other three. "Why don't we all get some sleep, then head back to the Order in the morning. Without Timcanpy we don't have a way to contact Komui and he'll want to hear about this as soon as possible."

The other three nodded in silent agreement.

* * *

The next morning there was still no sign of Timcanpy.

Everyone, including Sayuri, felt well rested and ready to be on their way, but Allen was still reluctant to leave without his golem. Lavi convinced him that they needed to get back to headquarters as soon as possible. He suggested that once they got there, they could ask the research department if they had any way to track down the golem.

The set out on their way. The Black Order wasn't too far away from where they currently were, so they just decided to travel on foot.

Lenalee and Allen still didn't seem to be completely at ease with Sayuri, so they preferred to walk just a few steps ahead or behind her.

Lavi, on the other hand, treated her as though she was a good friend that he had known for years. He walked right next to her the whole way, and was constantly asking her questions.

He was fascinated with the stories of all the lives she had lived. Being someone who had lived for thousands of years, and yet never appeared to age, she was never able to stay in one place for very long. Every few years, she would just pick up every thing and move. Often picking a new name, and creating a new story about her past. She had lived in just about every place imaginable.

Lavi also asked her questions about her life the first time the Millennium Earl had attempted to wipe out man-kind. She told him that she didn't really remember much from her few years of her natural life. The 6 years that she had lived as a cat before she died seemed like nothing compared to the thousands of years she had lived as a kind of defective akuma.

They walked on most of the day, while Sayuri told Lavi stories of her life, and they joked happily with each other back and forth.

Sayuri was surprised just how easy it was to open up to him. She had never in any of her lives been able to tell anyone exactly who she was. She would have thought it would be difficult for her, but it just came so naturally whenever she was with Lavi.

* * *

By late afternoon, the three exorcists and the akuma had reached the bottom of the cliff that led to the entrance to the Black Order. They scaled the cliff with the ease of long practice, and in Sayuri's case, a little help from her innocence.

When the reached the top and stood at the edge, they realized they had a problem that they hadn't thought about before. Just how were they going to convince Komui to allow an akuma into the Black Order?

* * *

Reever was watching the screens from a room within the Black Order. He watched as first Lenalee, then Allen, and followed by Lavi climbed over the edge of the cliff face. He smiled with relief, knowing that Komui would be extremely happy to know that the exorcists had returned safely.

They hadn't had any contact from them in almost two days now. Everyone in the science department would be thrilled as well, because now they wouldn't be forced to listen to Komui's constant whining and complaining as he worried about his "poor little Lenalee" anymore.

Reever was just getting ready to yell to Komui to tell them his sister had returned, when he saw Lavi turn and kneel on the edge, and reach an arm back down. It looked as though he were reaching for something. Reever stopped to watch what he was doing with interest.

The muscle's in Lavi's arm tightened, and he appeared to be pulling something up.

Reever stared in astonishment as he hauled a girl up over the edge and onto solid ground.

"Hey, Komui!" Reever suddenly shouted, making sure he was loud enough to be heard in the other room. "Lenalee is back! But I think you'd better come take a look at this!"

Komui walked around the corner and over to the screens. "Oh. Lenalee, you're safe! I was so worried about you!" He spoke to the screen. His tone suddenly went back to normal though when he saw the newcomer.

"Hold on a minute, who's that girl with them? I've never seen her before. Reever, what is the meaning of this?"

"Why would you assume that I know who she is? I have no clue, I was hoping maybe you knew."

They watched as the four of them walked over towards that gate, then suddenly the three exorcists stopped. They looked at each other worriedly, and started talking quickly back and forth. They all stopped and stared at the gate, as though they had never seen it before and it were confusing them.

"Well that's strange. What do you think all that was about?" Reever asked.

"I don't know. We haven't heard from any of them for quite a while now, and I don't see Timcanpy with them. We'd better have the Gate Keeper do a check, just to be sure. And make sure he doesn't confuse Allen's cursed eye with him being a full akuma again."

* * *

"Well this is just great. How in the heck are we ever going to convince Komui to let Sayuri into the Black Order. How exactly do we explain this to him?" Lavi desperately asked the other two exorcists.

"Hmm, maybe if I go and talk to him first and explain it to him he'll believe us." Lenalee answered.

"If Komui is ever going to believe any of us, it'd be you Lenalee. I think that's a pretty good idea." Allen chipped in.

Sayuri looked at the ground as she spoke to the other three. "I'm sorry. I didn't think my coming with you would cause this much trouble. If-"

Her apology was cut short as suddenly what she had assumed was only a weird face carved into the wooden door began to move.

The face leaned forward, towering over them, and exclaimed, "Prepare to be inspected by the Gate Keeper!" He had a loud, booming voice. She heard the other three mutter in perfect unison, "Oh crap."

The Gate Keeper's eyes suddenly shot out a bright light that he shone over each of them in turn. It started out over Lenalee. He announced, "She's human." before moving on to Allen. He spent a bit longer studying Allen, and seemed to be having a bit of trouble, but finally declared that ,"He's human." as well before turning to Lavi. Lavi stood there in the light and cast a worried sideways glance at Sayuri. "He's human." And suddenly the two bright lights were shining directly into Sayuri's face. It was uncomfortable, and she reached up a hand to shield her eyes.

A sudden gasp came from a deep voice above her and the light suddenly vanished. She looked up and saw the Gate Keeper pulling back away from her as far as he could. "An akuma! It's an akuma!" he wailed desperately, tears streaking down his wooden face from his fear.

Sayuri's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. No duh." she hissed bitterly, looking down.

A few black golems suddenly appeared next to them and they could hear Komui's voice suddenly boom out. "What is the meaning of this? Allen, surely you knew that this was an akuma! Why on earth would you lead it here right to our doorstep? Furthermore, why aren't you attacking it as we speak?"

Allen, Lavi, and Lenalee all broke into an explanation at the same time, and only a few random words could be picked out of the jumble of noise here and there.

"ALRIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Reever's words suddenly cut through, louder than the rest. Everyone instantly stopped talking, and silence slowly reestablished itself. "Alright, now will ONE of you _please_ explain why on earth you brought an _akuma_ here?"

They looked at each other, then Lavi stepped forward. He briefly explained Sayuri's background and told him that she wasn't under the Earl's control and that she had the Heart of Innocence.

When he finished, there was a stunned silence for a few seconds before Komui's voice floated out from midair again. "Th-The Heart of Innocence, you say? Well, I do honestly hope, for all our sakes, that this story is true, but either way, we still can't just allow an akuma to freely stroll inside our headquarters."

"Well, then what do you suggest we do?" Lavi was beginning to get agitated, and he stood in front of Sayuri as if to protect her.

Sayuri suddenly stepped around him and spoke out somewhat timidly. "Um, I know it's not my place to speak here, but if I may…?" She waited until Komui's voice uttered a startled, "Um, oh, well… very well. I'll here what you have to say."

"If it helps at all, I'm willing to let you chain me up. Completely immobilize me, and surround me with all of your best exorcists, ready to attack. Hevlaska is here, isn't she? Take me to see her, and let her tell you the truth. If she says that I'm not telling the truth, and I'm a threat, then you can have the exorcists kill me immediately. If she says I'm telling the truth, and I'm not a threat, then you know you can trust me. Either way, it works out good for you." she said all of this calmly.

Komui seemed to be thinking all of this over carefully. He asked, "How do you know of Hevlaska's existence?"

"I met her once, a very very long time ago. Long before the Black Order existed. She told me that it was her duty to protect the pieces of innocence, so it made sense that she would be here."

More silence as Komui mulled this new information over. "Very well, we will take you to Hevlaska, but the second you make one false move, we shall have no choice but to destroy you."

Sayuri dipped her head and simply said, "I understand."

They sent out more exorcists from within the Black Order, armed with heavy chain and ropes. They bound Sayuri tightly, while she stood there, still as a statue and allowed them to work on binding her. The only thing she could move was her legs, and just enough to walk. The whole time she had been surrounded by at least a dozen exorcists, all with their weapons at the ready.

When they were done with the chains, the exorcists (Not including Lavi, Allen, or Lenalee) arranged themselves in a circle around her and the gate opened.

They herded her through the gate carefully and through the hallways of the Black Order.

The exorcist directly behind her was a tall, well-muscled yet thin Japanese man with long blue hair that hung in a ponytail down his back. He had an angry scowl on his face. His anti-akuma weapon was a sword, which was currently being pressed sharply into the small of Sayuri's back. She was sure she could feel a little bit blood running down her skin from the point, and had no doubt that this man would be the first to run her through with his blade if she took one wrong step.

They moved her onto a large square platform where Komui stood. Once they were all on, it began to descend deep under the ground. When it finally came to a stop, a large, somewhat ghostly figure rose up beside them. Long strands like tentacles reached out and wrapped themselves around Sayuri and pulled her up into the air. Slowly, the chains began to fall away from her, until she was completely free from her bonds.

Hevlaska looked down at Sayuri, who looked completely at ease, and said, "Greeting, Sayuri Mochizuki. It has been a very long time since we last met. I am glad to see that you have kept the Heart safe for all of these years."

"Yes, and it's good to see you again as well Hevlaska."

Komui appeared to be in a state of shock. Composing himself a little, he asked, "So is what we've been told about her true, Hevlaska? Does she really have the Heart of Innocence? And can we really trust her?"

The ghostly being turned her attention back to Komui. "Yes, it is true that she is an akuma, but her mind and will has long since been freed from the Millennium Earl. She does indeed carry with her the Heart of Innocence, and I don't believe that she will harm the Black Order in any way."

Hevlaska began to lower Sayuri back towards the platform. As her feet hit solid ground again, the exorcists around her looked unsure what to do know, after hearing what Hevlaska had said. All of them, that is, except for that same Japanese man, who promptly raised his sword to her again.

"Kanda, you heard what she said. She's no threat to us, now lower your weapon." Komui chided him. Kanda looked up at him without moving, and Komui gave him a long hard stare. Reluctantly, he lowered his sword, though he didn't sheathe it.

Turning back, Komui said, "Thank you for your help Hevlaska. That is possibly some of the best news we've had in a long time." the platform began to rise again, slowly. As it climbed higher and higher, Hevlaska said, "I do feel I should warn you though: this war is drawing near its end. Whether humanity lives or looses depends on you." with those ominous words, the platform arrived back at the ground level.

Dismissing the exorcists, Komui turned to Sayuri and held out his hand. Sayuri shook it and Komui said to her, "I do apologize for all of that, but it was necessary. I welcome you to the Black Order. Feel free to make yourself at home here." With that, he turned and walked away to inform the rest of the Order what had happened.

Lavi, Lenalee, and Allen had been standing nearby when the platform had come back up, and upon seeing her freed from all of her chains and being welcomed into the Order, all three had large grins on their faces.

She turned to them and smiled back. The three of them rushed forward and Lavi suddenly gave her a big hug. "Welcome to the Black Order!"

"Thanks, you guys." she said earnestly. Lavi was sure that he hadn't imagined the blush across her cheeks this time as she yet again shyly turned her head away.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all of my readers for reading this far into my first ever fanfiction! As usual, I'll have chapter 4 up as soon as I can. Your Reviews are what inspire me to keep going with this story, so I greatly appreciate every one of them. *Bows* Arigatou Gozaimasu **


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